Little Boy Blue, anyone watching

[dingit]

Very upsetting start.

you know what happened, its just making entertainment out of something very horrible.

nothing will change either people are doing scummy things every day.

What next a 4 parter on Holly and Jessica from Soham just so people can relive all the horrors.

" if he refused to take the gun, they'd hurt him badly,"

It goes beyond that, it starts with windows going in and 'low level' assaults on family members, threats of rapes/kidnaps, then escalates and can get to the petrol bomb stage. That's after on-going persecution from the younger siblings and their cronies, of the main players.

It's looked at, that if your not for them, you're against them and they don't want people like that living among them.

Actually there's something on Soham tonight on channel 5. At 9pm

I never watch live TV but actually tuned the TV in for this. Agree with what someone else said about the police giving up in areas like Croxteth.

We live on the fringes of an identical area. A police officer actual said to me word for word "they're animals, we leave them be and they'll all kill each other in the end"

I started watching it last night. I've a boy in his early teens. I just cried throughout. That poor little boy and his family. Unbearable.

The boy who hid the gun was recruited by Nathan Quinn, one of the gang. He informed and is now in witness protection. He is only ever referred to as Boy X although they were calling him 'Kev' on the programme.

I disagree with a PP it's about 'entertainment'. The story is really about how the police knew it was Mercer from the beginning but they had one chance to get it right so the investigation was so lengthy. Was quite shocked at the female ACC telling the DSupt to charge them. He rightly said he had no evidence and the CPS would have dismissed it

Heartbreaking yet so well acted by the actors.

I am watching it now, just heart breaking, I am already welling up ( hospital scene )

I'm watching it now, about half way through. I can't stop crying and thinking of my own 11 year old son safe and asleep upstairs.

My heart breaks for Rhys Jones' family.

the scene in the football stadium had me in floods of tears! I just feel so much for those that poor family having to lose a precious boy and so young! I should just stop watching the news etc I really do get very emotional over all these types of stories.

I feel that it's a very important piece of television.
To brush it off as poor entertainment is blinkered.
Mel and Steve felt it important and are supportive.

Just from the first episode, you see the decimation of society in these 'gangland' areas.

You see how boy X was left with very little choice in deciding to help given his circumstances.

We need to watch things like this.
We need to attempt to understand so we can do something about it. Not just write off giant sections of society because they're scumbags and undesirable. Let's try and see why, and as communities what we can do to improve this.

Merseyside Police have certainly improved their attitude since this tragedy. Areas are no longer left to 'get on with it' or 'no go' areas.

Very difficult to watch though. I missed the beginning and have caught up tonight and am still tearful.

I couldn't agree more FeralBeryl

'Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.' Brecht

I found this evenings episode more distressing in some ways.

Another absolutely brilliantly acted episode. This should win awards. Such a heartbreaking story.

Was really emotional during last night's episode. You could feel Rhys's families pain as well as watching the others feel jumpy etc.

I could only watch 10 minutes of the second episode. The way that thug speaks to his mother ! I could barely watch. She then tries to excuse his behavior on ADHD!
It's insulting to people who have the condition.

Crazy to think there are lowlifes like this around.
I will have to try and watch the rest later.

I think it should be shown in schools to highlight the difference between decent hardworking families and scumbags.

That would be good.
It was also hopefully make pupils think about the low level violence (mainly verbal) but in some cases physical, that is going on behind closed doors. There are a lot of abused parents out there.

''When you treat your mother like dirt, nobody admires you for it and it doesn't make you look big''

A couple of points I'd like to add:

In relation to DottyPotter's comment about it being distasteful 'entertainment': Rhys's parents wanted the documentary to be made as they wanted the wider community to know the length that the scumbags went to to try to hide their crime (and their gratitude to the police for managing to cut through it). They have not gone as far as campaigning against the gang and violence culture (why would you after what you had been through) but this serves as a lesson about what is truly right and wrong and the fallacy of honour amongst gang members/mates and what 'no snitching' actually means. I know that when my uncle was murdered which in the care of a local authority we were desperate for his documentary to be made as we wanted the injustice of the situation to get out there and be heard and be learnt from. I imagine the motivation was similar for Rhys's family given their wait for justice.

The line between decent families and scumbags - it breaks my heart that kids are raised to be 'scumbags' unwittingly or intentionally but it is true and it has been going on for a long time (see Jamie Bulger murder as another Merseyside example). One of the greatest social intervention exercises in recent times was the Surestart centres - attempting to catch families vulnerable tot his kind of upbringing before it's too late (and once they are a few years in to school, committing petty crime then it's too late). We need reversal of funding cuts to Surestart and much greater, kinder intervention much earlier on so we stop the creation of feral teenagers from families with no hope. I'm not apologising for the murderous scumbags, I just want to see less of them in the future.

Excellent post herethere and I completely agree about SureStart.

I work in the community not far from where this took place. Feral, weed-smoking/dealing teens in hoods and on scrambler bikes are ten a penny, I see hundreds each day.

Having no respect for your mother is commonplace. Often the father is absent or in prison or just useless.

I really don't know what the answer is. One thing I don't like is how our local newspaper refers to these gangs by name, the 'Crocky crew (=Croxteth) etc. Why give credence to what is essentially a band of divvys hanging around together? There's no organisation or officialdom about these self-titled gangs. They like the notoriety of being part of a gang, so let's not give them any status at all.

Thank you, I guessed you were local by your username leccy, I'm a Merseysider, folks born and bred L6 but I haven't lived locally for a long time. That, said the place will always have my heart.

Great point about giving the gangs status by referring to their names, it would be great for the Echo et al to stop doing it.

My parents hate to see what's become of parts of the City. They were raised with nothing in an area with nothing (post WWII) but there was so little crime compared with today. When we go back to visit my 92 year old aunt in the same street in L6 it's bloody frightening and the abject poverty is depressing.

Still, back to the immediate topic at hand, what grace and dignity the Jones family have shown. Decent hard-working working class parents. The very best of Liverpool/Merseyside maimed so cruelly by the very worst of it. I'm so pleased they got the perpetrators - it was such common knowledge that Mercer did it - I think even my family had heard the name but that the police couldn't get the evidence. I now live abroad so can't actually get to see the programme at the moment, though my facebook feed is full of sentiment similar to this thread.

Idoidoidoidoido ^I could only watch 10 minutes of the second episode. The way that thug speaks to his mother ! I could barely watch. She then tries to excuse his behavior on ADHD!
It's insulting to people who have the condition^

The kid who plays Jordan is autistic. I understand this is his first acting role.

I felt sorry for the mother. He (Jordan) looked like he might lash out at her at times. She was only tiny and he was a great big hulk of a boy.
Worrying to think that parents (behind closed doors) are probably putting up with violence from their children on a daily basis.

The mother absolutely did the right thing in not providing her son with an alibi.

I didn't know that the actor playing Jordan is autistic. I will show my DS who is autistic with ADHD. He is struggling at the moment with things and needs to see that it won't stop him achieving stuff. We already look at the number of autistic people working in various jobs.

The programme is heartbreaking to watch but there are some important issues there. I am glad that the family had so much input.